By: Tom Stearman, Vice Chairman
Washington County Republican Party
ViceChairman@wcgopok.com
On October 4 the Oklahoma House of Representatives adjourned until call of the chairman, closing the Special Session called by Governor Stitt for the purpose of tax reduction. On October 3 the Oklahoma Senate adjourned sine die, meaning the Senate will not convene again this session. Thus no income tax cut will be coming your way this session.
This is perplexing, given the 2023 Platform of the Oklahoma Republican Party, which clearly declares we Republicans are in favor of reduced taxes and reduced government spending!
Page 13: Budget (We Believe)
- We believe all governmental budgets should be balanced by decreasing spending, eliminating fraud, and eliminating duplication of services.
Page 15: Taxation (We Support)
- We support eliminating taxation on income and property.
- We support lowering or removing the state sales tax on groceries.
8. We support the elimination of the marriage penalty, capital gains taxes, the earned income tax credit, the alternative minimum tax, double taxation of dividends, and inheritance tax.
We Oppose:
2. We oppose the use of sales tax and use tax revenue bonds for advance local capital improvements. City and county improvements should be authorized only on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Page 15: Economic Development (We Believe)
- We believe in free, open, and fair markets.
- We believe that Oklahoma’s efforts to attract industry should be grounded upon the establishment of a favorable and friendly “economic climate” rather than upon tax and other governmental subsidies to individual businesses
Given the above platform statements, why does the Oklahoma Republican Legislature oppose the governor’s call to reduce taxes?
Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat demurred, “To cut revenue is doable – if you have a plan.” He invited the governor to an Appropriations and Budget Committee meeting to provide “a detailed plan,” but when the governor did not attend, the Senate voted to adjourn sine die.
House Speaker Charles McCall described the House as “very disappointed,” but unable to pass legislation during special session without the Senate. The House therefore adjourned until call of the chairman.
Note whose interests are NOT being considered in this political gamesmanship: yours. The consituents’. The taxpayers’. Clear declarations in the Oklahoma Republican platform notwithstanding, the Oklahoma Republican legislature just cannot find it in their hearts to reduce your income tax by a quarter percent in a time of record revenue surplus.
A quarter percent! That’s what this clown show just can’t see its way to give you, the taxpayers: a quarter percent reduction in your state income tax from 4.75% to 4.5%
We find Governor Stitt’s statement entirely correct with respect to the Oklahoma Republican Party Platform:
“If I could write the bills, we’d have cut the grocery tax and income tax a long time ago. My friends in the House understand the plan: take up tax cuts for Oklahomans and slow the growth of government.”
What therefore is the problem?
We find the statements of various Republican legislators not only opposed to their own party’s platform, but indistinguishable from Democrat statements:
“We’re not opposed to tax cuts or tax reform. What we would be opposed to is doing it without a plan, without a long-term strategy on sustainability to make sure that we pay for critical services like public safety, health (and) education,” Treat said at a media availability last week.
“Sustainability?” What is a progressive leftist term doing in that Republican statement? “Sustainability” where tax reductions are concerned? “Sustainability” for whom? A legislator ought to consider the interests of the people, not the interests of government. Just spend no more than revenues; it’s not that distressing. What a Republican legislator ought to consider is “sustainability” for Oklahoma taxpayers! Reduce the amount that Oklahoma taxpayers are forced to pay! Everything is more expensive as a result of outrageous government spending. Spend less and tax less – for the benefit of the governed, not the government. That is, after all, what we promise as the Oklahoma Republican Party!
But note what both the House and Senate are in fact “sustaining”: government taxing and spending at no less than current levels! They are NOT considering sustaining YOUR economic well-being; only that of government!
The economic argument is uncomplicated. The single economic imperative with respect to taxation is to ensure that the government at every level consumes LESS of the total wealth. Thus a tax reduction, if it is to be at all effective, must result in LESS revenue to the State! How to account for less revenue in a balanced budget? By spending less, of course! Every dollar spent by government is first removed from the economy by stealing from him who earned it. So spend less! It is not remotely complicated. Only statist politicians pretend it is too complex for the layman to understand.
The false economic argument inherent in making up lost revenue in other forms of taxation is that government “services” must be sustained at current levels. (At current levels or more! Always more services, never less.) This is always wrong-headed, for it ignores the economic cost of what government confiscates; what Bastiat terms “that which is not seen” in favor of “legalized plunder.”
Returning to what Greg Treat and our own Representative Judd Strom decry as a “loss” of four billion dollars in state revenue: what both refuse to consider is the beneficial effect of that four billion dollars REMAINING IN the state’s economy instead of removed from the economy by taxation. Four billion dollars remaining in the hands of the people who worked for it will ALWAYS be used more efficiently in the myriad personal decisions by the myriad individual people than it will be in the greedy, confiscating hands of government. This is the fundamental power of voluntary exchange: you deciding how to distribute the fruits of your labor will always be more effective than someone else stealing it from you, then deciding how it shall be distributed. Four billion dollars MORE in the economy would be a substantial stimulus to widespread economic growth.
Which brings us to the remarks of retired OU political science professor Keith Gaddie in The Daily Oklahoman:
“There is no hurry on tax cuts. They have time. There is no pressing demand from the public.”
To the extent that this accurately relates the view of the Oklahoma legislature (and by the actions of the supermajority Republican legislature it evidently does), this view is infuriating in its dishonesty. When we elect Republican representatives and senators we should not HAVE to tell them we want taxes reduced! That is simply what Republican candidates promise when running for office! We will reduce your taxes and reduce the size of government. Thus voting for Republicans does indeed signal to legislators that voters demand tax cuts, in contravention of Professor Gaddie.
How do we know that is the Republican promise? Review the platform of the Oklahoma Republican Party above.
Fundamentally that’s what a platform is: the promise by the Republican party to the voters concerning what Republican candidates will do when elected. Republicans have already promised reduced taxes and reduced spending. To be elected and then NOT to do these things in a supermajority Republican-controlled legislature is outright fraud, irrespective of whether voters are “telling” Republicans to reduce taxes. Merely voting for the R beside a candidate’s name does exactly that. Do it!
Even worse are the remarks of Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat in The Daily Oklahoman: “In Oklahoma, if you want to raise the tax you have to have 75% of the vote,” Treat said. “So if you want to eliminate the income tax, which the governor and I actually share the idea, you have to do it methodically and thoughtfully. I don’t think we can do it in a special session.”
Note carefully how Senator Treat phrases his objection to reducing taxes: the supermajority required to RAISE taxes! His fundamental argument is that, even in time of record budget surpluses, we must never reduce taxes even a tight-fisted quarter-point because of the difficulty in RAISING them again in the future! Note that his focus is only on RAISING taxes, even in a special session called to REDUCE taxes! When, then, may Oklahoma taxpayers EVER expect a tax cut, even when we have a Republican supermajority in all branches of Oklahoma government! How, exactly, is Republican Senator Treat any different from having a Democrat Senate President Pro Tempore?
His objection is economically illiterate, of course, as tax cuts stimulate any economy, while tax increases suppress any economy. But far worse than his economic illiteracy is his utter disregard for YOUR wellbeing; the wellbeing of the taxPAYER! When might we all expect, from a Republican leader, no less, the same careful consideration of OUR revenue needs? Does Senator Treat believe he looks after the interests of government, or the interests of the people? At the time of this special session the purchasing power of Treat’s constituents is being rapidly erased by irresponsible government taxing and spending. Evidently Senator Treat cannot be bothered to consider YOUR rapidly diminishing revenue. What good is having Republicans in office when they do the same things and evince the same tax-and-spend philosophy as Democrats?
Which brings us back full circle to the platform of the Oklahoma Republican Party. “We support eliminating taxation on income and property. We support lowering or removing the state sales tax on groceries.”
When might we expect a Republican supermajority in Oklahoma to DO what it promises in its own platform? Hm?